Snyder signs driverless car testing law

Signed by Snyder on Dec. 27, the two bills, SB 169 and SB 663, passed the Michigan Senate earlier this month. SB 169 allows automakers, suppliers and upfitters to test the technology on public roads, but regulations state that a human must be in the driver's seat during testing to intervene, if necessary. SB 663, a companion bill, provides liability protection for automakers from civil suits caused by defective technology from suppliers.

Michigan joins California, Nevada, Florida and Washington, D.C., in passing driverless car legislation. Eight other states have been debating similar bills.

On the move

• Detroit Mayor-elect Mike Duggan nominated Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, 54, as the city's next corporation counsel, replacing Portia Roberson, 44, whom he nominated to lead the city's new Civil Rights and Justice Division. Chuck Raimi, 62, was nominated as deputy corporation counsel. Duggan also nominated Second Deputy Fire Commissioner Jonathan Jackson, 44, as interim fire commissioner; that appointment would have to be approved by the Detroit City Council under the rules of the city charter.

• Charlie Beckham, 66, who has served under every Detroit mayor since Coleman A. Young, was named by Mayor-elect Mike Duggan as group executive for neighborhoods. Duggan named Melissa Smiley, 36, his transition team's research director, as deputy chief of staff, and John Roach, 48, as director of communications, continuing in the same role he had with the campaign and transition team.

Company news

• A $40 million continuing care retirement community, Cedarbrook of Bloomfield Hills, is scheduled to open in September 2015 after groundbreaking earlier this month on Woodward Avenue north of Opdyke Road, said Michael J. Damone, president of Cedarbrook Senior Living LLC. Damone selected Daniel Tosch from Bloomfield Hills-based Progressive Associates Inc. as the project's architect.

• Ann Arbor-based Internet analytics firm ForeSee Results Inc.was acquired by St. Louis, Mo.-based Answers Corp. for more than $200 million. Further terms were not disclosed. In 2013, ForeSee Results is projected to have revenue of $52 million, according to Crain's estimates, up from about $25 million in 2009.

• Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC, the development arm of Dan Gilbert's real estate empire in Detroit, closed on the purchase of the eight-story retail/office building at 1400 Woodward Ave. The purchase price was not known. The current home of Eastern Wig & Hair Co., the 60,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1925, said Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service CoStar Group Inc.

• Detroit's Metro Times weekly alternative newspaper was bought byEuclid Media Group LLC, a newly formed Cleveland-based publishing group led by the publishers of two sister alt-weeklies. Euclid bought the Metro Times and three sibling weeklies from Scranton, Pa.-based publisher Times-Shamrock Communications for an undisclosed sum.

• Ally Financial Inc., the Detroit-based auto lender majority owned by the U.S. government, won regulatory approval to change its holding-company status, allowing the firm to keep an insurance business and a vehicle-auction website.

• Ann Arbor-based United Bancorp Inc.said it bought back all of the remaining 10,300 shares of preferred stock issued to the U.S. Department of Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Other news

• The city of Detroit reached a new settlement in its bid to terminate interest rate swap contracts with UBS AG and Bank of America Corp. Under the agreement presented to Gerald Rosen, chief district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and lead mediator in the bankruptcy, the banks will allow the city to terminate its contracts for $165 million, a 43 percent discount. Rhodes is to review the deal and the post-petition financing at a hearing Jan. 3.

• State and Detroit officials selected a seven-member advisory committee to offer guidance about Belle Isle, Michigan's new state park. The panel will be chaired by Michele Hodges, president of the Belle Isle Conservancy, The Associated Press reported. Belle Isle is owned by Detroit but will be run by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources starting in February. The committee will keep an eye on park improvements and public safety.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the state's largest health insurer, gave some people an extra week to buy insurance in time for coverage that would kick in on Jan. 1, saying that roughly half of those purchasing plans on their own can skip enrollment on the government's website.

• A new study by St. Louis, Mo.-based United Van Lines indicates that migration out of Michigan has finally slowed to a virtual halt. Michigan was about evenly balanced between inbound and outbound moves. The state had 16 straight years of outbound migration and was tops in outbound moves from 2006 through 2009.

• Michigan residents are expected to be among the biggest beneficiaries of a $100 million settlement with a Framingham, Mass.-based pharmacy company, New England Compounding Center, linked to a nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis causes by tainted steroid injections. Authorities say 22 of the 64 people who died in the outbreak were from Michigan.

• Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law a campaign finance bill that will continue to keep secret the names of donors who pay for issue ads. He also signed a five-bill package that creates criminal penalties for attaching high-tech "skimmer" devices to ATMs to record debit-card information, the AP reported.